Another Symphony: Vice's Tale
by The Protector of Light
Summary: A parallel story to The Song of Lala. You need not have read it, but it is helpful in understanding. The story of a new Nobody, Vice, and his journey to find out just who he is in the world and what his purpose for being is.
1. Act I: What

Another Symphony: Vice's Tale, Act I: What

_'What's going on?' _wondered the new being. '_Where am I? What am I?'_ The boy woke up in the center of an empty courtyard, surroundings unfamiliar. _'Who am I?' _He looked down at his new hands, his new eyes beginning to focus, allowing him to see more clearly. The being knew only two facts about himself: he was a Nobody, and his name was Vice. He vaguely remembered images from a life now passed, knowing only that it was gone. He saw images of a girl with dark blonde hair, tanned skin, long legs, and trademark smiley face t-shirt. And he knew that that is who he had once been. Her name had been Lilly, Lilly Creed. But she was gone now. Vice approached a fountain to see the reflection of the face that he had no doubt would be the same as hers. He was stuck by surprise: "Why the hell am I guy?" he yelled, glad that there was no one around. He was shocked by the voice that came from his vocal cords. He looked down at himself. Indeed, he noticed a build more masculine than the girl that he remembered, more muscular and of course flat-chested. His shock just kept building. "What the hell?"

Vice backed away from the fountain, no longer wishing to see what was in the reflection. He felt a presence behind him and wheeled around. "Who are you?" he demanded of a hooded figure wearing a black coat. The figure stood there, seeming to study him, as though judging his worth.

"Strange," the figure said. "That's unexpected."

"What are you talking about?" Vice asked.

"Oh nothing to concern yourself about," the man seemed to stare through the darkness, piercing the very soul of the new Nobody, looking for answers that Vice did not know what they could be. "Do you remember your true name?"

Vice paused for a moment. "What's it to ya?" He got into a defensive stance.

"Now now, I'm not going to hurt you. I take it you do, then. But surely in your case you do not share that name."

"What do you mean?"

The figure chuckled. "Would you like to join us?"

"Join who?" Vice asked, still confused.

"The Organization, of course. I'm giving you the choice: join or be destroyed."

"I don't like the sound of that." Vice knew that his human counterpart would have been terrified, but he held no fear at all. "What does the 'Organization' do?"

"We do many things. One of which is seek our hearts." It was obvious to Vice that he was only being told the most tempting option.

"No thanks. I'll pass. If I find my heart, I find my heart. If not, no biggie either." Vice turned to walk away but found the figure was now in front of him.

"What part of join or die did you not understand?" Vice saw a weapon, he couldn't really decide what it was, appear from thin air.

He didn't know what to do, what to say. He didn't know how to fight, nor did he possess a weapon to his knowledge. Running would be the best option if this wacko didn't just appear in front of him again, but it wasn't sure-fire. Vice looked down at the ground, concentrating. A crossbow appeared in a pool of darkness from the ground, Vice sure as hell wasn't going to question it, so he grabbed it and ran, taking aim in motion. The figure teleported around, making him hard to track. But Vice shot, and his aim was true. When it stuck, a hoard of Heartless appeared in front of the figure and tackled him. Once again, Vice wasn't going to question it, and sprinted towards the nearest exit. He recognized this place: Traverse Town. Lilly's home. But it wasn't his home, a Nobody had no home. But alas, it didn't matter. All that matters was that he got away, and found himself in a district of peace: the First District. He simply continued towards the exit. His heart wasn't here, he somehow knew that. And he knew that he had to get away from the cloaked figure. So he continued towards the door that he knew led out, though he knew not what he would do when he got there. Nobody stopped him.

What do you do?

When you don't know yourself,

When you are new,

Do you guess?

Do you go on?

Do you leave?

Do you stay?

I know not,

But I will find a way,

To be myself.

Not somebody else.


	2. Act II: Propelled

Another Symphony Act II: Propelled

Vice looked around at the empty void that he had thrust himself into. It was cold, and dark, and all Vice could see was a few Heartless ships. He was unsure where to go next, but he knew he needed to get a move on, for the cloaked figure would surely be following him. And all that Vice saw that could be of use was the ships. He approached one and found it empty of Heartless, so he decided to give it a shot. There was obviously nothing he could do otherwise. He couldn't just stand around there; not only would it be dangerous, it would look suspicious to anyone who might happen upon him. Then again, he thought, being in a Heartless ship would be equally sketchy.

But left with no other choice besides returning to Traverse Town and possibly running into that person from the Organization, he entered the ship. While he didn't know what to make of all the gadgets and gizmos all around him, he did see a well outlined map. But he did not know where to go, for he knew not what he was looking for. So, he just chose a location on the map at random, pressed a few buttons and felt the ship lurch forward. He was unsure of how he should go about this. He had no idea what to do with a Heartless ship. What if something went wrong?

As Vice pondered that, the ship burst forward at what he hoped was full speed, because if it wasn't, he certainly didn't want to know what was. He screamed the entire ride until it came to a sudden end with an impact against some kind of stone. He began to yell again as he was flung out of the ship, which was turning end over end. He landed with a thud onto stone steps, his leg hitting hard on one of the edges. He felt a sharp pain in that area. That event made him cease yelling and attempt to stop any further injury. Thankfully, his attempt to do so seemed to be successful, and, other than a few cuts and scrapes, probably a few bruises, and the leg, he seemed to be fine.

Vice stood up (painfully) and looked around. He could see the remains of the ship scattered around nearly too far away for him to see, but he could tell that it seemed to be in a bazillion pieces and he had no way of repairing it. I guess it would be time for plan B. Which would probably be stealing another Heartless ship and crash-landing somewhere else, because that was just his style as a person and he saw no point in changing that now. He turned around and saw a big building with stone pillars in front of it. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of it, but he remembered his person seeing something like that in books when she was a child. Coliseum? Something like that anyway. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know where he was going or what he intended to do, so he didn't know whether to bother hanging around or not.

A strange looking figure, with bluish skin and a blue flame for hair, came charging out of the building, muttering something under his breath. When passed by Vice, the stranger stopped and turned around. "Well hellooo. Haven't seen you around here."

"Who are you?" Vice asked the stranger.

"Name's Hades, Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld, yadda yadda. What brings you here to the Coliseum?"

"Is that where I am?" Vice pondered.

"You don't know where you are?" Hades got a look in his eyes that was very ominous, almost like he was saying 'jackpot' in his mind. "I thought you were here for the games."

Vice didn't like his tone. "The games. Yeah-no. I don't know what those are, don't really care, I'm just on my way out of here as soon as I can."

"Oh, but you came all the way here, you have to fight in the games. Haha. Tell you what. I'll give you this:" Hades handed him a card. "With this you can enter the games. All I need you to do is win."

Vice shook his head and handed the card back. "No thanks." He began walking in the direction that Hades had come from, towards the Coliseum.

"Wait!" Hades implored. "If you enter the games, I'll get you a way out of here, no questions asked."

Vice considered his options. He really didn't like this Hades character, the very presence of him made his skin crawl. But at the same time, he didn't really have any other way to get back in motion without help. "You sure? I mean, I'm sure that I'll lose in no time. I hurt my leg pretty bad."

"Oh, you'll do better than you think, I'm sure. These are the preliminaries, you'll mostly be up against weak guys. Tell you what. We'll shake on it, what do you say?" Hades held out a hand.

Vice paused, looking at the hand. "I'll do it. But I'm not shaking that slimy hand of yours."

Hades looked baffled. "You insult me after I offer you this? I'm almost inclined to take it back… Almost. Just try to get as far as Hercules."

"Pffft, yeah right, I'll be out on the first round. So long, sucker!" Vice said, snatching the card from Hades' hand and sprinting towards the door.

So what are the chances

That I'll actually win?

Slim to none.

But let's begin.

It's worth a shot.

If nothing else,

I might get caught

In the fire, but oh well.


	3. Act III: The Games

Another Symphony Act III: The Games

When Vice entered the Coliseum, he was greeted by the sight of two interesting individuals. The first was a huge muscular guy, who really didn't have much more to him to describe him by. The second was a tiny man with goat legs and horns. Vice stopped in his steps and stared for a moment. He wasn't shocked so much by the small satyr as he was the muscle-man. If he was the average goer of these games, Vice was doomed. Vice considered turning around and walking out. Surely he would have better luck with another Heartless ship. He surely couldn't wreck two, right? But he sighed in resignation and tried to figure out what to say. He decided to go the standard route. "Excuse me?" he said, trying to get their attention without interrupting their conversation too much. They didn't answer; they just kept arguing. "Um, excuse me?" Still no response. Vice sighed and was about to turn to leave when he saw a pillar that seemed to be weakened by some kind of black magical aura begin to fall. "Hey look out!" he yelled, sliding in behind them and knocking the falling pillar away from their direction. He winced as he felt the weight of the pillar on his already bruised arm.

However, that action seemed to get their attention. The satyr looked between the pillar and Vice, seeming to not be able to comprehend what had just happened. "Hey, kid, what are you doing?" He said, seeming angry.

"I don't know what _you _were doing, but _I _just stopped a pillar from falling onto you guys' heads." Vice said defensively.

The muscle man smiled ever so slightly. "So you did. Thank you."

The angry satyr shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, we didn't need rescuing." He paused as he received a look from the muscle man. "Good moves, though."

"Oh. Well thanks. So um… who do I talk to about entering the preliminaries?" Vice asked, showing the card that Hades had given him.

"What is it with scrawny kids getting those cards?" the satyr asked nobody in particular.

"Hey, I'm not a kid!" Vice said.

"Yeah, yeah, you talk to me. But it's gunna be a tough competition this time around," the satyr said. "I'm Phil. And you are?"

"I'm Vice." Vice smiled, holding out a hand, knowing that that was the appropriate response.

"I'm Hercules," said the muscle man. "I guess I might just be seeing you soon."

"Yeah, maybe," Vice said skeptically. _This_ is who Hades wanted him to fight? Vice was sure that he was going to get his butt kicked.

Hercules left the room. "So listen, kid, are you sure you want to do this? You look pretty banged up already. Been practicing too much?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Vice said, thinking to himself that he really didn't have any other choice.

"Okay then. Get in there and wait until your name is called." Phil explained the way that the games worked and sent Vice on his way.

When the first round came, Vice was pleasantly surprised to see a few Shadow Heartless scurrying around. He didn't even have to take a shot with his bow; just hitting them over the head with the blunt object was enough. Most of the fights proceeded in this fashion, gradually getting tougher, involving more dodging and faster attacks, which really hurt his sore body, particularly his leg. He thought to himself that if he were human, he really should get that checked out. But oh well.

When he got to the final round before Hercules, he found that he really could do this fighting thing. So once that battle was over, he was feeling pretty confident that he might have a chance. But then Hercules came out onto the stage. Vice was getting second thoughts again, but he could almost hear Hades chuckling in his head. Vice knew he really had no choice but to try to win. That's all Hades said he had to do: get to the fight against Hercules. And he did. So he wasn't going to give up now.

The battle began. At first, Vice was able to dodge most of Hercules' attacks and get in some shots himself. But all it took was one body slam and Vice knew it was over. The man was pure muscle, while Vice knew his only attribute was speed, and Hercules was just as quick. But Vice kept trying until he was almost unconscious. He had managed to get in a few more shots in, but he couldn't even stand up anymore; he tried to and failed. So he put down his bow and said "I give up! You win!" Vice yelled.

Hercules came over. Vice did his best not to flinch, expecting a final blow just to make sure that he was out of the game. But instead, Hercules offered a hand to help him up, until Hades appeared between them. "Really kid? You get this far and you just give up? Seriously, you barely even weakened him!" Hercules stopped, looking annoyed at Hades.

Vice tried to stand up again to face Hades, but failed. "Hey, you said all I had to do was get to the fight with Hercules. I did, and I got my butt kicked. Now, we had a deal."

"Wrong! You never shook my hand." Hades turned to face Hercules.

"Wait, I did this all for NOTHING?" Vice protested.

Hades ignored him, and started yelling at Hercules, who punched his lights out, sending him flying across the arena. Hercules turned to face Vice. "So Hades blackmailed you into the games, huh. He does that a lot."

"Yeah, I didn't think it was a good idea, but I had no choice! I thought it was my best way out of here. But I guess it's back to the drawing board." Vice sighed.

"You really shouldn't make deals with him." Hercules said, but offered a hand again to help him up.

"Yeah, yeah, well apparently I didn't even make one anyway." Vice took the offer of the hand and stood up. "Anyway, I should be going."

"You're in pretty bad shape. You should rest in the lobby for a while," Hercules said.

"Nah. I need to get moving, since I don't know what I'm going to do now." Vice limped away, through the lobby.

"You've got real potential, kid. Keep it up," Phil told him as he passed.

"Sure, sure." Vice said as he exited the lobby and was back in the courtyard where he had landed.

"_Now what?"_

Now what do you do,

When your only option is gone?

What do you do,

When it's time to face the dawn?

You keep moving.

That is all you can.


	4. Act IV: Luck

Another Symphony Act IV: Luck

Vice kept walking. He didn't really know where he was going or what he would do when he got there, but he knew that staying where he was wasn't really an option. He decided it best to try to find a Heartless ship or something to enable him to travel further. After that, he wasn't really sure what his next move would be. What he did know was that he needed to get somewhere where he could rest. His injuries were healing fairly quickly, but he still was in a lot of pain, mainly in his leg that he had injured, causing him to limp along. He didn't know what he would do if he was attacked at this point. He managed to survive the tournament, but that was no proof that he could continue to defend himself with the injuries he sustained from Hercules.

He found himself outside of the exit to the world when he went through the doors at the end of the courtyard. He had good enough look to once again find an empty ship. He boarded the vessel and rested in the pilot's seat. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why Heartless ships had a seat. Surely the ships were controlled by some unseen force under usual circumstances, as from what he could tell, Heartless were fairly unintelligent. From fighting them, it seemed to him that all they really did was try to kill whatever moved. So he couldn't see how they could pilot a ship. But for his sake, it was lucky that the ships had controls. He pressed a few buttons and got a map to appear on the screen. He wasn't sure where to go. He was really going on instinct, and the last time he did that he ended up crashing into this world and making a deal with a bad person to get involved with, nearly getting himself killed in the process.

Well, pondering wasn't getting him anywhere. He messed with the controls some more. He saw a world that appeared to be fairly peaceful. He decided to go there, just for the heck of it. "What more could go wrong?" he said with a shrug.

As the ship moved at full speed again, he knew that he shouldn't have said that. But he had no choice but to sit back and enjoy the ride. Who knew what would happen? He knew that he didn't have any choice in what was to come. Fate was driving this ship. So he decided to get some rest, try to heal up his wounds.

He awoke to the beeping of alarms. "I have the worst luck," he muttered to himself panicking a bit as he tried to figure out what was wrong. There was a notice on the screen: once again, he was set for a crash landing. "Well crap," was all Vice could think to say. He looked out through the windshield and saw that he was quickly approaching a world adorned clock tower. "Guess this is where I'm going for now." He ducked down as much as he could, holding on to the seat to avoid being sent flying through the air again. Then again, it might be safer that way. Ah well. No time to think about things like that, really.

Vice didn't know how people would react to someone falling from the sky here. Nothing surprised anyone in Traverse Town, but he doubted that was the case here. Luckily, he saw his trajectory landing him in a forest. Well, relatively luckily. He braced for impact. He landed much more gently this time, his ship not flipping, just landing with a sliding thud. He carefully climbed out of the ship. Much to his dismay, he was surrounded by what he knew were Dusks, a kind of Nobody that he was familiar with. "Really?" Vice asked, looking up at the sky. He sighed. "Well, might as well get this over with." He grabbed his bow and prepared to fight. Luckily, it was a quick and easy battle. He didn't know how he would have been able to fight a _real _battle, that's for sure.

Maybe his luck would turn for the better now. He hoped so.

Fallen from the sky

I am left to wonder:

Why?

Why does it seem like

It's never a step forward,

Just two steps back?

But I keep moving forward.

I have no other choice.


	5. Act V: Not Broken

Act V: Not Broken

Vice worked his way through the forest, looking for any way to get a sense of direction. He was failing miserably. All that he was succeeding in doing was getting more lost. Eventually, he found a clearing in the woods. He thought that maybe he had been right, that maybe is luck had changed for the better, when he saw a cloaked figure. He couldn't tell whether it was the same one as before or someone else. He knew that no matter what, they were bad news, so he turned around, found a good tree to hide in, and climbed it. He hoped that he hadn't been noticed. But obviously it was too late for that, as his hiding place was now surrounded by strange shapes made of water. "Lovely," Vice whispered to himself.

"There's no point in hiding up there!" yelled the figure, coming closer with his weapon. Up on further inspection, the 'weapon' was more of an instrument, resembling an odd shaped guitar. But Vice couldn't figure out what it was. He decided it best to stay in the tree. At least he hoped that the water-creatures couldn't climb up the tree and reach him. But with his luck, they probably could. He didn't say anything; he just waited for the cloaked man's next move. "You're seriously enough of a coward that you're not even going to come down and fight? I saw the way you took on that tournament, you showed that you had guts taking on Hercules like that."

That was true. Vice had taken on an opponent far more intimidating than this guy. He didn't win, but he gave it a shot. The difference here was that he knew if he lost, he would end up dead, or worse. Well, maybe there wasn't anything worse than dead, so that was a strange statement. But he was far more injured than when he took on that tournament. Now this opponent didn't seem to be going away any time soon. So Vice decided to take a safe route: he shot an arrow at the guy from the tree.

"Ow, really? You aren't even going to get out of that tree to fight? That's just low," the figure complained. "Let's get him," he said to the creatures. One extended an arm and pulled Vice out of the tree.

"Hey!" Vice yelled. "No fair! You have help!"

"Well life's not fair, now is it?" The cloaked man removed his hood, showing a young face with a strange hairstyle that was like nothing Vice had ever seen before.

Vice shot another arrow at the man as he was slammed into the ground, hoping that it would be like the first time and Heartless would appear out of nowhere and attack the guy. No such luck. He shot the creature, which upon further inspection looked like a clone of the cloaked man, and it dissolved into a puddle of water. 'Hmm…' Vice pondered. He saw several in a straight line and shot an arrow through the row of clones. 'This might not be such a bad fight after all.' He quickly dismantled the clones and began attacking the guy.

"Hey!" the cloaked man complained once again. He began to play his sitar (which Vice just remembered what it was called by hearing it played), making more clones appear. Vice was frustrated. Was that process really going to keep going on and on forever? He looked around, dodging attacks all the while. He decided just to shoot the sitar. When the arrow went between the strings and burrowed itself into the back of the sitar, the man visibly panicked. "How did you—" the man began. Vice aimed his crossbow at the man's head. He made is sitar disappear and put his hands in the air. "Okay, okay, you win this round! But the next one's mine!" The man began a hasty retreat.

"You'd better run!" yelled Vice at the man as he left the clearing. "Yes!" Vice jumped into the air for a minute in joy, only to receive sharp pain in his leg once he landed. "Ouch. I keep forgetting about that." He sat on the ground and rubbed his sore leg. He looked at his surroundings, wondering what to do next. He did all he could think to do: he stood up, chose a direction, and walked on.

With each step we take

We get closer.

Closer to the end:

Our final destination.


	6. Act VI: The Nobody and the Heart

Another Symphony Act VI: The Nobody and the Heart

Vice found himself in a down under the glow of a perpetual sunset. He looked around and saw a few people milling about. Everyone seemed at ease, the town as peaceful as if there were no Heartless or Nobodies. Vice supposed there might not be, or else the people might just be so used to them that they thought nothing of it. He continued walking, watching the people around him so peaceful. It was a nice feeling, seeing somewhere so calm. He moved on, following signs to what he assumed was some sort of marketplace. He didn't know what he was looking for, just that he needed to find it or get out of here. Obviously this place wasn't safe from the cloaked figure. He had no idea just what lengths that guy would go to in order to hurt him or get him to join 'the organization'.

And Vice didn't want to get involved with this organization. The whole thing seemed ominous. He definitely would do anything to avoid it. Of course he didn't want to die, but he figured that he seemed to be good at evading the recruiters' attempts. The only issue he could see would be if anyone else was sent. This guy seemed to be fairly inept. Surely not all of his group could be so easy to deal with. Vice was puzzled by the whole situation. What was so special about him of all people? If he was a person, that was. With a name like 'Nobody', who can really be sure? He didn't really know who to approach, if anyone. It really sucked not having a heart to follow. It made things a little tricky when it came to not knowing what to do.

So Vice decided to continue his wanderings. He turned a corner and approached a tall clock tower above what appeared to be a train station. Above the doors was written: Twilight Town. So that was where he was. Twilight Town. That didn't really give him any more information than he already possessed, however. Regardless, he decided to enter the station and go to the top of the tower to get a better view of the town below. He sat down on the ledge, staring at the sunset. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a person looking up at him. It was a figure of a young woman. He was able to make out dark blonde hair, and tanned skin. Could it be? Could that be Lilly Creed, who he once had been? He had to find out.

So he turned and headed down the stairs of the clock tower down into the station. He was met in the stairway be the girl. She was wearing a trademark smiley face t-shirt. He felt drawn to her, as though she was what was missing before. She had his heart. So he spoke. "Why don't we go back up there and talk. I think that I've just found what I was looking for."

Where did I come from?

Why am I here?

How do I find out?

Now you are near.

I feel no fear.

So here I am.

The duo, Vice and the girl, sat on top of the clock tower, looking down at the town below. There was a comfortable silence between them, as though they knew everything that was not being said. But the girl broke the silence. "I'm Lala," she said, introducing herself.

"I'm Vice," he said. He looked deep into her eyes. "You have my heart."

"I think it's our heart, actually. It was mine before, but now there's you. But that's okay. I can share," said Lala with a smile.

"What do you mean, share? Is that how it works? I have never met a Nobody that has found their heart. There is even a group that's sole purpose is the try to find a way to replace their hearts. They tried the recruit me, but I wasn't about to join in what I thought was a wild goose chase." He looked down.

"I don't know either. I didn't know I had a Nobody, or what a Nobody was. All I knew was that I was a Heartless, and I found my heart. I thought that was the end of it. But I still felt empty." Lala sighed. "But now I feel whole again."

"I don't want to go away," Vice said, looking at her. "I want to be my own person."

"I want you to be your own person too. I just don't know how we can make it work." Lala stared into the distance, as though lost in thought. But then Vice saw her being tugged off the tower by some invisible force. "Vice! Help me!" Lala said, panicked.

Vice gave it no second thought and grabbed her hand. He was unable to stop her from falling, but he wasn't about to let her fall alone. Instead, they fell together. "Lala!" he yelled, contorting himself in the air to land before her and soften her fall. I felt himself fall to the ground with a thud, felt the pain washing over him as he fell into the darkness out of consciousness.

He was falling, falling into the darkness, heading towards a light. But then he heard a voice. Her voice. She was singing, singing a song with dumb lyrics, but beautiful none the less. "_You're going to be okay, my dear, you're going to be okay. Lala's here, your heart is here, together we can make it through." _

He felt himself wake up. "I'm awake?" Vice asked sitting strait up. He stared at Lala. "You saved me? Why?" He was confused as to why should would do that rather than just letting him fade away into her being.

"I just met you. I want to get to know you. And I told you, we can share our heart." Lala smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you. I like the sound of that. Our heart." Vice smiled back at Lala. He took her hand. "What do we do now?"

"I have an idea. Trust me."

They returned to the top of the clock tower. Vice was wary of whatever might be on Lala's mind. He felt more like he could trust her than he had anyone else, but he still wasn't sure he should be as comfortable as he was. Lala put her hand over her heart. "I, Lala, do declare that my heart shall be shared with Vice, my new friend." She put her hand over where his heart would be. Vice looked at her hand and saw a faint glow. "Whoa, I think it actually worked!" Lala looked thrilled.

Vice was slightly annoyed. "You tried something that you didn't know would work? Really? What if it had gone wrong and neither of us had a heart." Vice seemed annoyed.

"Well, it didn't work out that way, so it's fine, right?" Lala gave him a stern look.

He smirked. "Right."

And so, hand in hand, the new-found friends, of one heart, watched the perpetual sunset.

We have searched and searched,

It felt like forever,

But now we have found,

We will be together.

Together to the end.

Together in the end.

Heart and body as one,

Soul complete,

We have searched a searched,

It felt like forever,

But now he have found,

We will be together.

The End


End file.
